Ball Aerospace instrument to give new view of Pluto.

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The New Horizon mission launched on Jan. 19, 2006, aims to map Pluto and its three moons to help scientists understand the planets and the environment at the edge of our solar system. Carried onboard the spacecraft is a Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (Boulder, Colo.) built visible imager and infrared spectrometer that will give scientists their first, close views of Pluto.

In a nod to the television show, "The Honeymooners," Ralph will be paired with Alice, an ultraviolet spectrometer, built by Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio). Ralph's suite of detectors is fed by a highly sensitive magnifying telescope with a resolution 10 times that of the human eye. Ralph weighs only 23 pounds and uses about the same wattage as a standard night light. …

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